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A curious bug: NETGEAR-Guest whether I want it or not!
I wanted to try enabling the 6Ghz-only SSID on my RBKE963B (firmware version V6.3.7.10_3.3.3). When I applied the change to enable that SSID, it instead enabled NETGEAR-Guest and NOT the 6Ghz SSID I want. I went to the Guest network page and confirmed that it was NOT enabled. So, I tried to enable it just so I could afterwards disable it. However, after those changes, the NETGEAR-Guest SSID continues to be broadcasted. I went back and disabled the (still unseen) 6Ghz SSID, and afterwards the NETGEAR-Guest continues to be publicized.
Just to be clear; I do NOT want the NETGEAR-Guest SSID enabled. Is there another way to make it go away?
So, sounds like a couple of things aren't working right.
Is it appropriate to inform NETGEAR via this forum of these bugs or is there a different bug reporting process?
Thanks,
Jonathan
jeburnett2022 wrote:
Was any of this documented and something I just didn't read carefully enough?
Documentation? You jest. It's only speculation, but my guess is that when the Orbi is in router mode, the WAN interface is on a separate IP subnet from the LAN interfaces. It is impossible for a satellite to have an IP on the WAN subnet, so there is no point in looking for a satellite out the WAN port. Once the code is written, nobody thought, "Well, if it is in AP mode, then maybe we should look for satellites on the WAN interface, too?"
Once people got their hands on the 960 where both the router and satellites have a 2.5G port, there was a batch of posts about which 2.5G switches people were using to network the router and satellites together. Those discussions were always in terms of the LAN side. The only documentation I am aware of about using wired backhaul is this one:
It shows the switch on the LAN side.
30 Replies
Just to update; after some minutes the NETGEAR-Guest SSID did finally stop being publicized. Must be some delay between disablement in the web GUI and the actions being taken...
jeburnett2022 wrote:
Must be some delay between disablement in the web GUI and the actions being taken...
Any time the user changes WiFi parameters, the system 'resets' the entire WiFi radio apparatus (on the router and every satellite). This does not happen instantly. (far from it).
In addition, the Orbi web pages also do not update instantly.
This is going to be a tough thing to persuade Netgear on. There have been many posts on the forum about the 960 and no one has yet mentioned that the 6G network cannot be turned on.
It would be helpful if can replicate this phenomenon (do it several times). When I read the RBRE960 user manual section describing the 6G capability, there is no mention of "guest". In the primary and guest WiFi, enabling the feature enables both the 2.4G and 5G networks. There is no "choice". (This was point of frustration for users, which one might imagine led to the creation of the "IoT" network in the 960 product.)
One might also imagine that the 6G network does not provide a guest option because devices supporting 6G are not common. If someone comes over and has a device that supports 6G, then either (a) they can live with the 5G and 2.4G WiFi until they go somewhere else, or (b) you can share the 6G WiFi password with them.
NETGEAR-Guest implies that you never changed the guest WiFi SSID. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do so before experimenting with the 6G WiFi network again. (If NETGEAR-Guest appears after the SSID was changed, that would indicate one problem. If the new guest SSID appears, that would be a different problem.)
Having zero devices which support WiFi6E (6G), I would not be able to observe whether a 6G network was created (or not).
If you can replicate the problem at will, something is definitely "amiss".
- Guest WiFi is not enabled, and the guest SSID is not NETGEAR-Guest.
- Enable the 6G network with a unique SSID/password.
- Observe with a WiFi6E capable device that the 6G network does not appear.
- Observe that a guest WiFi network has appeared on the 2.4G and 5G channels.
Netgear has forum moderators who have the ability to report issues to Netgear support. With this kind of evidence, they would almost certainly do so.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the subject. Just an FYI; I did NOT change (or even touch) the NETGEAR-Guest SSID as that was NOT the item I was interested in using or modifying. It simply became active when I attempted to enable the 6Ghz-ONLY SSID (which, by the way NEVER became visible).
One more thing I just discovered, and this is more disconcerting. I had to change my network passwords for the two SSIDs I'm using (for other reasons). After applying that change, it seemed to work as I was near the router node and did a successful reconnection of a device to the network. However, what I discovered is it never pushed the changes out to the satellites, so the passwords didn't get updated on them. I've just power cycled them to see if that worked (but I've not confirmed it yet).
This probably relates to the other issue I have with this 3-node mesh system. That is, both satellites are using wired backhaul connections to a 2.5Gbe switch however the router node keeps telling me I do not have any satellites. The satellites are however accessible from their individual login web pages, and they indeed have devices connecting to them. But perhaps because they appear connected, there's no effort by the router node to push changes out.
As I've noted elsewhere, the satellites are ONLY seen by the router node IF their backhaul is connecting wirelessly. If I let them do this, then they are seen but that only works if I unplug the wired backhaul. If after wirelessly backhauling the satellites has been done AND then plugging them back into the wired backhaul switch, my network starts reporting a LOOP condition. It seems both are used with the wireless backhaul remaining (needlessly) active. The solution for that problem is to press SYNC on each satellite and let them reconnect. It seems there is logic in the satellites to not use the wireless backhaul IF a wired backhaul connection is available.
Sadly, there doesn't seem to be logic in the router node for detecting the satellites via a wired connection...
I wouldn't think this a critical factor but I'm running my RBKE963B in AP mode.
I can confirm that on mine when I enable the 6Ghz separate SSID broadcast and apply the change, I do see the Guest nad IoT network for about 30 seconds then they disappear.
We've seen this before on the other AX series systems as well. If a sync is in progress or booting to ready, the Guest network seems to broadcast for a short periof of time then disappears.
Also should the RBS some how get out of sync, this could be seen there as well as being out of sync could cause the Guest Network to not be shut off when the RBS gets configuration information from the RBR can't be completed correctly.
It when it continues to broadcast when it's not actually enabled is a problem. We have brought this up to NG.
As long as it doesn't continue to broadcast when it's not enabled, you'll be ok.
jeburnett2022 wrote:
I wanted to try enabling the 6Ghz-only SSID on my RBKE963B (firmware version V6.3.7.10_3.3.3). When I applied the change to enable that SSID, it instead enabled NETGEAR-Guest and NOT the 6Ghz SSID I want. I went to the Guest network page and confirmed that it was NOT enabled. So, I tried to enable it just so I could afterwards disable it. However, after those changes, the NETGEAR-Guest SSID continues to be broadcasted. I went back and disabled the (still unseen) 6Ghz SSID, and afterwards the NETGEAR-Guest continues to be publicized.
Just to be clear; I do NOT want the NETGEAR-Guest SSID enabled. Is there another way to make it go away?
So, sounds like a couple of things aren't working right.
Is it appropriate to inform NETGEAR via this forum of these bugs or is there a different bug reporting process?
Thanks,
Jonathan
